


MagicaLocked

by SailorCresselia



Category: Homestuck, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, may go up to teen later, rated general for now, well sort of no powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-31
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:57:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/742231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorCresselia/pseuds/SailorCresselia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to a world. A world without Magical Girls, without Witches. A world where a simple video game will change history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Be Madoka Kaname

You are Madoka Kaname, 14 years old. It's not like your age matters much, but you feel like you have to state it. You enjoy READING MANGA, particularly Magical Girl stories. You have a desire to take up ARCHERY, but have never followed up on it. You're not particularly good at SCHOOL OR SPORTS anyway, but you try your hardest. Your room is plastered with posters of CLASSIC FANTASY PROTAGONISTS. Sometimes you PLAY VIDEO GAMES, but usually only when your friends invite you to. You would do anything to help your friends, even though they don't always get along with each other.

Your "social circle" is rather complicated. You love all of your friends, but they have very conflicting personalities, which leads to a lot of fights amongst them. It seems that acting as an arbitrator for them doesn't always work, and in fact sometimes makes it a little worse.

Oh well. You're sure that they will get over it in time. For now, you plan to hang out in your room until someone contacts you. One of your companions recently became rather addicted to online gaming, and has made new contacts overseas. One of these contacts has sent her a copy of the beta-test of some new game that's coming out. Apparently, it's some sort of multiplayer game, so she has enlisted you and your other friends to join in on the local server.

You sit at your computer, and open your copy of Pesterchum, which has been upgraded in the past few months to have a Universal Translator feature. This will come in handy if you ever need to contact anyone overseas, but you can't see that happening anytime in the near future.

Oh, look, you've got a friend contacting you now!

seekingBallad [SB] began pestering dreamersPortent [DP]

SB: Hey Madoka!

DP: Hey Sayaka! What's up?

SB: Saw you were online, thought I might pop in for a chat.

SB: You ready to play this game?

DP: I think so! But don't I need a copy?

SB: Don't worry 'bout it. I'm e-mailing you a copy of the two files now.

DP: Huh? Two files?

SB: Yeah, WR says that we need a Server version and a Client version to actually play.

SB: Something about needing to make a chain of players?

DP: Who's WR?

SB: Oh, right. That's wingedRequiem.

SB: She's my pen pal from the states.

SB: She's the one who clued me into this whole shindig.

DP: One of these days you'll have to introduce me to her.

SB: Someday!

seekingBallad [SB] ceased pestering dreamersPortent [DP]

Clicking out of the Pesterchum window, you go to check your e-mail. To do so, you have to open your browser, Kreimhild. The name is a little intimidating, but it's the browser you like best.

Once you've accessed the Internet, you see that you've got e-mail from Sayaka.

Here's the files you need for the game! You only need to install the Client right now. We apparently have to link to each other to play, so I'll be acting as the server for you. I'm not really sure how everything is supposed to work if we're all hosted on different servers, but I guess we'll figure that out as we go. According to WR, we have to connect to each other in some sort of circle?

I dunno, it's all kinda weird for a game, but if that's how she says it works, that's how it works. I'm still not sure how she found out about this thing. Looks like it's in a MEGA limited beta, but she was somehow able to send me a copy of the game?

Sayaka

Below the e-mail, theres two download links. One is named Sburb_-_client.DIS*, and the other is similarly named Sburb_-_server.DIS*.

Strange file extensions for a strange sounding game. You mean, what sort of name is "Sburb"? Well, whatever. Sayaka would never have sent you this if it weren't "100 PERCENT LEGIT FOR REALS." At least, that's how she put it when she was telling the four of you about it last week.

You decide to only download the client copy for now. If you aren't going to need the server at the moment, why bother with taking up the bandwidth to get them at the same time? Clicking on the link for the client, a window pops up from your browser. It reads:

"NOW DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE. TIME REMAINING: 1:00:00."

One hour?! Sayaka didn't say it was that big a file! Maybe it's just the Internet being slow. Either way, you've got a bit of a wait ahead of you, so you might as well see if any of your other friends are online.

You look at Pesterchum again, and see that statisicalRepetend is online. That's actually unusual, she isn't often online when you are. You usually wind up talking either via e-mail, time-delayed chats, or in person. However, it's summer break, and your friends are mostly in other cities at the moment, so you can't talk face-to-face right now. You're pretty sure that she went to the mountains, Sayaka has relatives visiting at her place half-way across the city, and gracefulJewel is at some culinary camp. Who knows where takingChances is. She's the only friend of your who doesn't go to Mitakihara Middle School, so it's harder to meet up with her in person.

After this bit of thinking, you check the remaining time on your download.

"NOW DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE. TIME REMAINING: 00:58:00."

You get the feeling this will take a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand there is the first chapter, which is ridiculously short. I’ve got to work on expanding my chapters, I have the same problem on Fanfiction. (I don’t really like the way that site is going these days. Also formatting there sucks.)


	2. Continue being Madoka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A download continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who've left kudos! This chapters a bit short, but I like exposition.

You continue to be Madoka Kaname.

You have recently come into contact with a new game known only as Sburb. You haven’t actually had the chance to play yet, since you’re still waiting for it to download. Your friend Sayaka sent you your copy, as she plans to do with your three other friends.

You decide to check the time remaining on your download.

”NOW DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE. TIME REMAINING: 00:56:00”

Darnit. This must be one big file, for it to take this long to download. Pesterchum takes this opportunity to beep at you. One of your chums is contacting you.

statisticalRepetend [SR] is now pestering dreamersPortent [DP]

SR: hello.

DP: Hi! How’s it going?

SR: fine.

SR: i hear that we are going to start playing the game today.

DP: Yup! I’m waiting on my copy to download right now, actually!

SR: do we know what this game is even about?

DP: Well…

DP: I’m not really sure. 

DP: As soon as SB gets me started, you hook up with her, right?

SR: i suppose.

SR: that’s what i have been told.

SR: is your family all right with you playing this?

DP: They aren’t actually here right now…

DP: Mom and Dad took Tatsuya out to the park, but I asked if I could stay here.

DP: They were okay with it, as long as I didn’t do anything bad.

DP: So I’m here alone, waiting for this game to download. 

SR: how long do you have to wait?

DP: Um, just under an hour.

SR: …

SR: …

DP: Yeah. I’m going to be waiting a while. 

SR: i suppose that i will talk to you later.

SR: after you have started playing the game perhaps.

DP: Aw, why do you have to go so early?

SR: i have to go charge my computer.

SR: my battery is running low.

DP: Oh… okay then.

DP: I’ll talk to you when you’ve got power, okay?

statisticalRepetend [SR] ceased pestering dreamersPortent [DP]

Looks like she really had to leave. That’s unfortunate—the two of you don’t get to talk much outside of school. She doesn’t come to hang out with the group very often, so it’s hard to keep in contact. 

You look at your friends list… you mean Chumproll. You’ve never liked that term, since it seems really insulting. Looks like Sayaka’s back online. 

dreamersPortent [DP] began pestering seekingBallad [SB]

DP: Sa-ya-ka!

SB: What’s up?

DP: Why didn’t you tell me how large the game files were?

SB: Sorries, I must have forgotten. 

SB: I thought you had pretty good Internet? 

DP: Yeah, it’s pretty fast, but I’ve still got…

DP: uh…

DP: 50 minutes.

SB: Seriously!?

SB: Man, I would have sent them earlier if I knew it would take that long. 

SB: Oh well, can’t really be helped. 

SB: I’ll take the blame for this one. 

DP: Well, I’ll sign off for now, I want to leave more bandwidth for the game.

DP: Bye!

SB: Bye now!

dreamersPortent [DP] has ceased pestering seekingBallad [SB]

You log out of Pesterchum. You hate to leave your friends out of any potential loops, but that game won’t download itself!

Okay, actually it will. That’s kind of the point of computers.

But it’ll still take a while for everything to load.

“NOW DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE. TIME REMAINING: 00:35:00”

Looks like cutting your Internet usage sped up the transfer quite a bit. That’s great! 

You decide to think about your life while you wait.

It’s been very warm this summer, much warmer than usual. The news says it’s global warming, but you can’t help but think that it means something more. The feeling that something big is going to happen soon has been hovering around you for weeks now, and this game Sayaka found out about only made that feeling stronger. 

Speaking of Sayaka, you’ve been really worried about her lately. She’s really withdrawn from everything since… well… you’d rather not talk about it. The two of you broke off from another old friend because of that. It’s a touchy subject for Sayaka, so you don’t bring it up often. 

Anyway, you have a relatively close-knit circle of friends right now, and that’s the way you like it. Sure, they don’t always get along with each other, but you somehow manage to soothe the tension every time they start fighting. People tend to say you always have a very calm aura around you. 

You always blush when they say that.

Checking your computer again, you see that the download is going much faster than it did earlier. 

“NOW DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE. TIME REMAINING: 00:25:00”

Huh. It’s going a LOT faster than before. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes since you last checked. Maybe your connection is speeding up. That would be nice, you could turn on PesterChum again in that case…

Eh, better wait a few more minutes, see if it keeps up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> help how do i kernelsprite.
> 
> (no, seriously, I'm not sure what to use for kernelsprites for any of the characters.)
> 
> Figured it out! Took me long enough.


	3. Be someone else

While we wait for Madoka’s Client to download, let’s be another person!

You are now Sayaka Miki. 

At 13, you are the youngest of your group of friends. Well, you call them friends, but really two of them you only tolerate because Madoka insists that they’re good people. You love CLASSICAL MUSIC, an interest heavily influenced by your crush, Kyousuke Kamijou. Although, it’s not like you have a chance with him anyway, since your classmate Hitomi Shizuki is dating him. Since you lost your opportunity for TRUE LOVE, you’ve taken up PLAYING VIDEO GAMES, primarily SWORDS AND SORCERY style games. You have invited your best friend Madoka and the rest of your circle to beta-test the new game Sburb. You’re not thrilled about playing with Homura and Kyoko, but the game is multiplayer, and you wanted a large group. Besides, Madoka would have invited them in if you hadn’t.

At the moment, you are waiting for Madoka’s copy of this game to download. Your Server copy is ready and waiting to be launched, but you figured that you should wait until she was ready to play alongside you. She went offline a few minutes ago, so you don’t know how far along she is. 

While you wait to hear back from Madoka, you decide to check your newsfeeds. You run the Octavia browser, and head to your news aggregate page. You have a variety of different topics there—ranging from orchestral performances in Mitakihara to the latest video game news. Occasionally you find world news posted there, usually when it’s a really big deal. 

Huh, it looks like there are some interesting new articles up today. 

“New Meteor Shower Sighted: Astronomers Baffled By Unexpected Event”

“Prioriware Unveils New Home Console”

“Anticipated Online Game Leaked: SkaiaNet Declines Comment”

Wait, what was that last one? Isn’t SkaiaNet the new company that made Sburb? You thought WR had this thing legally. 

You decide not to mention the possible piracy to your friends. You’re almost ready to start playing, so you don’t want to risk people backing out. Besides, if the game was leaked, that must mean other people are playing it too, right? You want to be one of the first to beat it, so you might as well keep going as planned.

Scrolling down the page, you see that there isn’t much else going on in the world. Your browser then decides to auto-refresh the page, which lands you right back at the top. There’s another article there now-something about some star cluster or other being brighter than usual. You suppose it’s there because of that meteor shower piece below it. 

Astronomers must be having a field day.

Closing Octavia for now, you glance back at Pesterchum. Your friend WR is on, which is odd. She’s across the Pacific in the US, so it’s around… what, one in the morning for her? Geez, she’s up early. Must have wanted to play really badly to be up this early… or late. Depends on if she actually went to bed. Might as well see if she’s gotten started with the game yet.

seekingBallad [SR] began pestering wingedRequiem [WR]

SB: Hey, you there?

SB: Just wondering if you’ve started playing yet.

SB: I wanted to see if everything was running okay on your end, since it’s so early for you.

SB: Or would it be late?

SB: Did you even sleep last night?

WR: Hi SB!

WR: Yeah, I, uh, didn’t sleep a wink.

WR: It’s kinda hard when this huge game is coming, isn’t it?

WR: But I’m about to get started on my end, how about you folks over there?

SB: We’re doing good, well, I THINK we are.

SB: dreamersPortent is downloading her copy now, and I’ve sent out e-mails to everyone else I’m playing with that have links to their versions.

SB: Wish we could all play together though.

WR: I know what you mean.

That would be so cool!

WR: From the few things I’ve heard about it online, Sburb sounds pretty graphics heavy, but…

WR: I haven’t heard much beyond the pre-loading animation taking forever…

WR: After that, everyone on the forums that talks about it just sorta, I dunno, stops posting.

WR: They must be really immersed in it.

SB: I bet it’s fun! That would be a reason not to take time out and post!

SB: Besides, it probably takes a lot of power, DP told me it was going to take her an hour to finish downloading.

WR: Wow. That’s a long… hang on, I just heard something.

WR: What the-!? Where did—!? What’s that!?

SB: Hm? What’s wrong?

SB: And why are you typing your reactions?

SB: WR? 

SB: You there?

SB: Everything okay?

wingedRequiem [WR] is away.

Well that was sudden. You wonder what happened. Usually she at least says goodbye. Aw, man, you just remembered something. You had meant to ask her where she actually got the game! Darnit. 

Pesterchum pings. Looks like someone wants to talk. You’ve been doing a lot of that today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking in there with me, folks! I've been spending the time since Chapter Two plotting, scheming, designing characters, and scheming some more. (also working on classes and a job, but those aren't important to the story, now are they?)
> 
> I've figured out about half of the sprites I'll be making, and finally figured out what I'll be doing with the Pleiades. Right now I just need to figure out what Mami's second prototype will be (along with the second entries for four of wingedRequiem's crew), but I've got the rest of the session 1 girls done. 
> 
> This is so much fun to do, you guys!


	4. Continue to be Sayaka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's get down to business

==-} Continue to be Sayaka

*ping*

*ping*

Grumbling, you click back into Pesterchum. It’s a big day, but you WOULD still like some time to think. I’d be nice to have a chance to find some sort of guide about this game. But then, WR DID say that nobody had posted much after the loading screen…

*ping*

Oh, right, someone was trying to talk to you.

dreamersPortent began pestering seekingBallad

DP: Sayaka!

DP: Hey, Sayaka!

SB: What’s up, Madoka?

SB: Did the download finish?

DP: Yup, just a minute ago.

DP: So I guess we can start playing now, huh?

SB: Sounds about right!

SB: I guess we just open the program and run with whatever happens from there.

Minimizing the chat window, you double-click on the icon labeled Sburb_-_server.DIS*. It’s a really weird extension for a game—you’ve never seen this one before. Eh, no big deal. It’s probably some proprietary thing. 

The program opens, pulling up a full-screen installation window.

“Huh, that’s weird…” you murmur. Your computer never even asked where to install the game to. Now that you think about it, it should have asked that when you downloaded it from that email wingedRequiem sent. 

The installation screen isn’t asking anything, either. It’s acting more like a loading screen, one that you would see in between levels. The image is some sort of lacy circle that keeps changing shape, over a bright blue background. It’s moving too rapidly to tell what it’s actually supposed to BE, though. You hear the all-too-familiar sound of Pesterchum in the background, but you can’t seem to minimize the loading screen. None of the usual keyboard shortcuts are working, so you keep jamming the Escape button trying to get back to your desktop.

==-} Meanwhile, at the Kaname residence

Once again, you are Madoka Kaname. You were just talking to Sayaka a minute ago, but she’s gone idle now. You assume that she’s installing the game, and decide to follow suit.

Double-clicking on the freshly downloaded file, you activate the Client copy of Sburb. 

This pulls up a new window on your desktop, which quite frankly, looks incredibly old-fashioned. It has the appearance of an interface from about three Operating Systems and several years ago. The window has just two items, a direction and a drop-down menu. 

The direction simply says “Select your Strife Specibus.” The dropdown menu has the label “Kind Abstratus,” followed by a long list of items. Each entry in the list has a tiny icon next to it, which appear to represent the item that they’re next to. 

“What on earth is all this stuff?” you say, even though you know nobody’s around to answer. You look for a help button, but there isn’t even one to close the window. “This is weird…”

One of the items catches your eye—an image of a bow and arrow, located by the entry ‘bowkind.’ Shrugging, you select the entry. The window closes by itself, followed by another appearing. This one reads “Bowkind abstratus selected. Please maintain contact with your Server.” 

You click the ‘ok’ button, and the window closes. Nothing else comes up. 

Now you’re incredibly confused. Shouldn’t you be playing the game by now? Well, better contact Sayaka and see if anything has changed on her end. 

dreamersPortent began pestering seekingBallad

DP: Sayaka, this is really weird.

DP: I’m not getting anything to play on my end.

DP: All that’s happened is I selected something from a list and the game told me to keep in contact with you.

DP: So that’s what I’m doing.

DP: Keeping in contact.

DP: Are you there?

DP: Sayaka?

seekingBallad is idle.

==-} On Sayaka’s end…

“WOULD YOU FINISH LOADING ALREADY?!”


End file.
